Red Vial
by ebinao
Summary: An operation with supposedly benevolent goals centering on Yuuki has dangerous ulterior motives lurking beneath, and she finds herself in the tragic aftermath. Rated M for safety.


Red Vial

By ebinao

Note: Sickfic, M for violence. Zombies and Left4dead parodies has lead me to this XD

Yuuki's vision was surrounded by red haze as she slowly opened her eyes. The drugs were still in effect and were giving her a stinging migraine, confusing her senses. Her instinct was shouting at her to wake up and do something and quick.

She sat up and saw her reflection in the glass wall - nothing but a bony, dehydrated aftermath, the rubbers tubes and IVs straining against her head, nose, and body, the connecting machines attached on the other end standing useless beside her. Following the stinging sensation in her throat she tried to climb down only to fall on the cold floor, sending scalpels and forceps down with her.

Staggering, she reached for a blood packet. She bit right into it and took in gulp after gulp of her own blood, some of it seeping from her mouth and trailing down. Her fangs dripping, she dropped the exhausted packet and consumed two more.

Dropping the packs and feeling groggy, she settled for lying on the edge of the floor, going out like a light.

_Kaien had a comforting hand on her back as she stepped into the wide lobby. Heibei Research and Development was filled with women and men all looking busy going somewhere in suits and coats. They walked past the reception and towards the many elevators, Kaien's white lab coat flapping behind him._

_The preceding events kept on replaying themselves in her head. She had mild disagreements before with Kaname about this and this time they finally had a full-fledged fight. Kaname was going to be shot down and killed before he allowed his sister to be here. _

_Though Kaname had to admit as he stared at her dejectedly - both of the women he had loved, and even including himself - they all had this self-destructive urge to help the human race._

_The program that aimed to conduct research on purebloods had the goal of finding a cure for Level-E vampires. It had started years ago with only textual knowledge to guide them and paid vampires to assist in the operation. _

_There had been lesser innovations along the way such as blood tablets. Products for dulling thirst and more developed blood tablets are things to look forward to. Now they are asking for a live pureblood sample. _

_Yuuki saw promise in this and she finally came to a decision when she found out that Kaien would be heading the operation. Granted, few if any a self-respecting vampire would allow anyone to poke and slice around their bodies._

_They got out of the elevator to a sparsely populated floor. It was quiet with only the hum of the air conditioning. She was greeted by a few female scientists before she was led to a couch, told to relax. She saw the steel operating table and felt apprehension. She counted to ten and sighed. The nerves will never be gone, which was why she always stuck to Kaien._

_She had spent a couple days there already, and even Yori, Zero and Kaname were already starting to get calmer. The scientists in turn were able to get a clear grasp on the bodily workings of ancestral vampires._

_Yuuki had spent around a year there, with weekly breaks, when one day Kaien approached her in her bedside, frantic._

_"We developed a cure," Kaien said, a bead of sweat on his temple. Yuuki was feeling triumphant, but there was something else on Kaien's eyes. "It's not perfect, but it's a start. I'm going to ask for your release right away."_

_He looked frantically at his fellow doctors, still discussing something outside. "I kept one vessel, just in case. You remember Warehouse 1? And - Juuri's birthday," He said, trying to smile. "Listen, you-"_

_"We'll have to start now," one of the doctors said with a smile, poking her head in through the door. "Ms. Kuran, Dr. Cross, is everything ready?"_

_Yuuki nodded, used to this routine. Kaein hesitated before looking back at her, seeming to convey something through his eyes, his glasses slipping on his nose. Then the doctor approached her with a needle, placed a soothing hand on her arm, and injected her with it. Her vision went black._

The sight of the streets about a hundred floors below startled her awake, jostling her away from the window. Violent shivers ran down her spine. She looked at herself; she was flat out naked. At once a stinging stench reached her nostrils. Looking back at the operating table, she recognized bile and her own waste.

She went to the nearby water dispenser and gulped down some water. Quickly she found a spare nurse's uniform from a closet along with medicinal supplies. She folded the pant sleeves and tried to hug the loose shirt close before putting on another set.

Blue light illuminated her surroundings. At once she knew that something was wrong. The machines that had been keeping track of her brain activity and her breathing were out of power. Everything in the room seemed to be off - there was only the faint blue light, the shelves and furniture all dusty and haven't been touched for a long time. The whole building must be running on its state-of-the-art emergency power.

She looked at the neighboring building. She could see below its topmost glass-walled floor - also dark. Many of the streetlights below were broken, only a few still working. There wasn't a sound that could be heard.

An eerie silence surrounded her. _Where is everybody?_

Something had gone terribly wrong.

She thought she saw a slight movement in the darkened street. Looking closer, she finally saw it. There was something moving slowly along the pavement. A human-like figure. Then she saw a couple more.

Level-E vampires.

Yuuki could only guess what was happening. At once Kaname came to mind. She didn't know where he was, whether he was alive or not.

She walked towards the wall phone, dialing Zero's number. No one was answering. She tried Yori's number, receiving the same result. She called to mind all the numbers she knew of.

For a whole day she stayed in the room, waiting for some sort of activity and resting up. Her body still retained faint traces of cuts and she continued drinking packs of her blood. She'd have to find another supply later - that and where Artemis was.

Judging by how weakened her body was she'd guess she was out for at least a year. She couldn't believe it, but she could guess how her unconscious body could pose as a threat to both her captors and to people who cared for her.

That last injection she was given was unlike the others. _A__n induced coma_, she realized with bitter shock.

She stayed for another day in the room, with the blood samples her only company. She had thrown a pail of water from the comfort room at her waste to tone down the stench. She called to mind how panicked Kaien was when she last saw him.

_Warehouse 1._ If she was going to get out of here at all and if the world really was filled with Level-E, that would be the first place she'd go. Then probably check out the next city.

She grabbed a bag and stuffed some blood packets in. She went to the reception, took out the building's profile. She was in one of the Research and Development floors. Scanning the list she decided on Museum and Gallery. Taking a last look around the room, she went to the stairs.

Artemis was in a glass case. She ran to it, shattering the glass with an umbrella. She was surprised to receive a furious, heavy jolt of electricity when she took hold of it. Feeling dejected she held it tight, not at all sure if she could withstand the electrocution.

"It's me... It's Yuuki..."

It kept on whirring, almost choking the breath out of her.

She gave out a gasp when it finally stopped.

* * *

_"It's over. We've found a cure, Madame President. I'm ready to release Yuuki first thing tomorrow morning," Kaien said._

_The President had this strange mannerism of having a fan conceal half her face. Her eyes seemed to be smiling._

_"Good," the President said. "But I'm afraid we'll have to keep her there a while longer."_

_Kaien looked at her in shock. Slowly, his suspicions were dawning upon him. He knew from spending days with the other two female scientists that something was up that he didn't know about._

_"We needed you to get the Kuran girl to agree to this program," the President said. "But this is an opportunity worth more than gold. To get a pureblood to surrender alive for research... It would be a waste to just let her go."_

_Kaien stood there, looking deadly. He himself knew there were loads of other things they could develop with the aid of research and experimentation over a live pureblood specimen. Like eternal youth. Then he went on to the more threatening possibilities. Weapons._

_Her right hand men had filed into the room with their weapons on the ready._

_"Drop your weapon."_

_Kaien stood still, trying to look for a way out._

_"Wouldn't you want to rise over the purebloods?" The President said, revealing a sneer. "Those creatures are arrogant threats to society. Now is the chance to build weapons that will go against them."_

_Kaien thought he could get through the door with a few bullets in him from the impending ambush. He raised his hand ready to shoot the President when a mad rush of gunshots resounded from the room, his blood spurting from the gaping holes. He fell to his knees, blood dripping from his flooded mouth before he fell on the ground, his eyes still open._

* * *

_Looks too ominous, _she thought as she stood in front of the dilapidated Warehouse 1 entrance. She jumped when a pair of rats scurried near her feet.

Finding a couple boxes stacked on its side, she climbed to the roof. There was a single ventilation fan near the entrance. Taking out the fan carefully and setting it beside her, she looked down.

It was absolute darkness in there.

After contemplating she slowly inched herself in, feet first. When she was dangling about halfway in, she felt a narrow pipe catch her feet. Steadying herself and feeling its capable foundation, she decided to go as far as it would take her.

She was balancing herself in the narrow footing, about halfway through the warehouse when she felt a sudden vibration on the pipe. She tightened her hold on Artemis.

Looking around and finding nothing, she inched her way across, trying to be quicker, when a body balancing itself on the pipe on its arms and legs struck her field of vision right in front of her.

She stepped back in surprise, almost losing her footing, making wild arm movements as she frantically steadied herself on the pipe. Then the vibrations started again, growing steadily louder. Looking behind her in a panic, she caught a glimpse of the same creature before it lunged at her -

Artemis blocked its path as it manically snapped its fangs and clawed at her. She managed to push it down despite her difficult position, and it hit the bottom with a splat. A growling sound came from below, and then a howl - a Level-E disturbed from its rest.

She was turning back in alarm when the creature in front of her lunged and sunk its fangs into her, its nails digging on her back. Trying to push it away, she slipped and completely fell from the pipe, falling and landing loudly into the darkness below, grappling with the beast.

Artemis slipped from her grasp and landed with a resounding _clang _a couple feet away. The zombie on top of her cried out in desperation as she pushed its head off of her.

Suddenly the warehouse erupted in cries of zombies as more and more of them woke up and smelled fresh prey. A multitude of them lunged at her sprawled on the ground, each of them clawing at her as she cried out over and over in a frenzy. Her screams reached its highest pitch when some of the zombies started actually tearing off her flesh, spouting blood from her arms, legs, and face, their tongues, mouths, and claws burying themselves into the gaping flesh.

Her agonized screams rung against the walls, tears spilling from her eyes, her mind in disarray as she pushed and struggled, only to find out there was layer upon layer of Level-E's struggling on top of her.

Her screams gradually lowered in pitch and volume, her sobs sounding inhuman as she curled in upon herself instinctively as a last resort. Then as the zombies started tearing off her clothes she shook violently, panicked and repulsed energy coursing through her. Breathing deeply, she shut her eyes as her energy became tangible a few inches away from her in an explosion. She could hear bits of zombie guts splattering against the floor.

Shutting her eyes tight she followed in two more blasts, blood spattering everywhere and innards splashing on her. Numb with just the course of raw energy through her, she exploded blast after blast in every direction she could think of, sometimes including herself in the vicinity. Soon there were less left and she thrust her fist on the single Level-E who manically threw itself upon her.

She lay there panting and still curled up, slimy with sweat, blood, and innards. Then she stood up, wanting more than ever to finish what she came for and get her bloody self out of there. She concentrated her energy and blasted an opening through the steel wall in front of her. Stepping in Yuuki looked around at the shattered shelves and papers lying askew on the floor. Hoping she didn't shatter it, she found a steel safe when she opened one of the intact cabinets in the corner.

Trying to pull it away but the safe was attached to the wall. Whispering an expletive she tried to remember the passcode. Not wanting to risk anything, she refrained from forcing her way into the safe. She could hear faint sounds from outside.

She finally remembered and entered in her mother's birthday. Her head ringing and her body just itching to get away, she tore a box holding a set of vials from the safe. Looking around she took as much important looking documents as she could.

An horde of Level-E vampires have gathered near the entrance. _It's a nest_, she thought in exasperated desperation. _A nest, a breeding ground for these monsters._

She climbed one of the cabinets and made her way to the ceiling, hanging onto a pipe then balancing herself on her feet. Elbowing a hole through, she ignored the dripping blood all over her body and jumped high onto the roof. The breeze felt colder than ever as she made her way back to Research and Development.

* * *

She was downright sprinting through the forest, a few branches and twigs ripping her clothes. The vampire hunter association looked desolate when she reached it. She cautiously approached the unmoving entrance before blasting her way in.

"It's best for you not to go."

She quickly turned to find an elderly man in a corner, a ragged blanket wrapped all over him. She had to stare at this first occurrence of a sane person.

"Is the President here? Is anyone still alive?"

"That I don't know, lady," the old man croaked miserably. "But I do know that that place looks like the den of hell, isn't it?"

It was broad daylight but somehow the shadows on the windows seemed more pronounced. The structure of the Association was huge and convoluted, like a maze to the unfamiliar visitor.

"I need to know," Yuuki said, and began making her way to the building. She had an idea where the main offices were in there.

The old man began coughing a laugh out from behind her, saliva dripping from his scant teeth.

* * *

She was walking in a dark hallway towards the figure standing still. She held Artemis very tightly.

The President of the Association was standing right in front of her. She could barely make out the red wallpaper in the sparsely lit corridor.

"Where is my brother?" She called out, venom dripping from her voice. "Where are all the people?"

She hadn't noticed, but somehow the President was closer than she thought she was.

"Your brother was a fool," the President drawled. "He has gone mad with what we had done to you -"

"Show me," Yuuki commanded, and possessed the President.

_Kaname looked around at hunters and vampires alike surrounding him and their vampire weapons pointed at him._

_"I don't remember inviting anyone today."_

_His chest was bleeding from a hostile visit from Rido just a few minutes ago. He stood hunched over the ransacked body of his sister._

_Kaname knew Yuuki was hiding something from him. He was going to talk to her about this whole thing. He wanted her to end it once and for all._

_"You're not as almighty as you think, Kaname. You arrogant prick. You're as mutable as the rest of us," the President said, sneering._

_Shots from all directions fired, shaking her lover's body like a crippled doll -_

"No!" Yuuki cried, her head in her hands. She folded into herself, nerves in her head protruding.

Then she felt the President's fingertips on her face. At once a concentration of energy blasted the President's head into oblivion.

She fell to the floor, tears spilling from her eyes. She continued shouting the word, pounding her fists on the President's lifeless body.

"No!" She cried.

There was a tall mirror at the end of the hall and she could see it glimmer in the darkness. She walked towards it and stripped off her clothes. Not a single blemish remained in sight. Suddenly her own pristine body and the thought that the sight of it had once sent her lover mad sent shivers down her spine.


End file.
